The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1887-07-09
ABOUT POKER CHIPS.
MANUFACTURE OF THE LITTLE
DISKS THAT so MANY HANDLE.

- fNA@ANA SANNhA AANg manifestations 81
tho Trade.
Don't play poker with a man who juggles
with his checks Distrust him II you find that
IN a moment Of abstraction lac picks up
stack Of whites and drops the checks ono at "a
time from the bottom Of the pile and makes
each one turn completely over and yet land
squarely upon the one beneath it, Suapect
him II be can divide stack and run it To-
gether again with one hand Such familiar
ity with the disks betOkens long experience
and IL he is rot "a professional lac Is at least
man who has spent years ia acquiring this
proficiency at the green covered ITALICS. Few
AMATEUR have these tricks, and, while pro-
fe@ionnls who have learned them may try
hard TO avoid practcing them, they will do
il inadvertently ia moments OF abstraction,
and you can generally mako up your mind
that il Is Improbable 10 sit long IN their COM
pany.n
The speaker was a dealer In sporting arti
cles, and while talking lac illustrated Lis re-
marks 10y deity mingling rcd, white and blue
poker chips with one hand. -Ihcse nre the
competition chips" he said. Even IN poker
chips there las been a great improvement in
the last decade. In old times NC used moth
ing but ivory, and they cost from go 10 $40
a hundred, according to the amount Of artistic
landiwork displayed upon them Then the
chips were like coins and stack was worth
il weight in silver, but ivory chips were not
as good NJ these VIC now sell for from $40 10
SIS n thousand. Ivory chips were always
source OF trouble to their owners. They were
seriously affected BY changes Of temperature
and by moisture and were constantly crack
ing or wprping out Of shape.
THE hest CHECK.
''Ihe hest checks are those which are per
fectly fiat, Of even thickness and equal din
meter. They must stack up evenly, for the
adept poker player never wants the trouble
Of counting his checks lie can pick up five,
lay them against the side OF an odd stuck and
cut or flvo more Putting the two lves To-
gether he has the gage of half stack, and
with them cuts out ten more checks from the
pile TO make an even stack. He will keep
that stack whole as long as lie can, to measure
up against. Now you con easily see that
checks must he all OF the one thickness and
perfectly fiat, or the measurement may lie
faulty All the checks In use now are made
Of composition pressed into dies. Rubber and
celluloid checks are sold in considerable qunn-
Titles, but neither OF these materials are con
sidcred as good as certain secret compositions
inado by five or six firms ia this country with
shellac as a basis.
Here is a check made in Newark Thu ma
terial seems as hard Us stone and believe
that there is considerable stone in the COM
position The manufacturer has made at lenst
25,OOO,0OO checks In the last five years. They
nre made twenty-five at u time in steam heat
ed presses, ind these lines and figures which
look like engraving arc produced by raised
figures in the mods. Before lie produced
these checks they were all engraved by hand
at considerable cost, and the only low priced
poker CHIPS in market were plain or ringed
This Is the favOrite size of checks-just the
diameter and thickness Of IA silver dollar The
maker employs 100 hands, who can turn out
about 81, OlO checks every day, but the bust
ness is not confined TO poker chips alone
They make fancy buttons, checkers, and mar
tingac rings Of tho same composition.
'lIcre h u whhe check with an owl outlined
IN blue, and here are blue aud red checks,
with h rise shoes, crowns, elephants and an
chors outlined in white He has fifteen de-
signs, six Of which ure special patterns made
only for their Originators A year or two ugo
ono of the big tobacco manufacturers order
ed lOO,O 900 cheeks Of this size with the nd
vertisement of brand Of chewing tobacco
upon them. They were given away 10 GUS
toners, AMI the biggest part OF tlcn went
west and south.
As a HOME AMUSEMENT.
"Did the gift Of this quantity VI checks
make any difference in sales with youin
"Nu; the business Is steadily increasing all
the time, and the increase Is largely due to
the fashionable popularity Vt draw poker us
a home amusement Poker parties seem to
h. increasing cvcryw here. Fivcor six young
men make up club 10 play at one unothcr's
houses, AMI each one has b. have n full outfit
Of cards and cheeks II they met in Il club
room one set Of checks would answer for all.
They pay {. or 81 u hundred for the cheeks.
and like 10 have different designs for each
house they play az. Dealers have their
favorite designs, and because they talk them
up 10 their customers, they sell a great many
Of them to the exclusion II other designs /
have California customer. who buys moth.
ing for his trade Int the horse shoe pattern.
and there il club uptown which uses moth.
lug hut shamrocks Tie members have faith
IN lucl, attending the t.ofoil. We sometime,
have orders for lGJ,uOO checks ut "A time An
order ui thi, kind generally asks FOR four cOl-
Ois. Nearly our-Nulf will he white. unc-thinl
red and the remainder dyidcl hctwecn blue
and yellow IN the proportion VI twn hlu,s 10
one yelnw Yellow is almost invariably
use Tor the highest priced checks. and white
for the lowest. These polished walnut bovc-
contain 100 cheeks Hall Of them arr, white.
and the other half equally divided la'tw,rm
red and blue. One box j. MOI onuu'h for an
ordinary poker party, and spme litle p,a.r
circles that know Of leave "a, many ns $40
cheeks. \ party Of five players should be
able b, get aili; nicely with .ll checks, hut
many player have II prejudice against sill
ing from t!icr winnings and the banker may
run GU of riel.- while they ARE stacked up
on the tablr IA lroii Of one or twnlurl.v men,
who think that II VIII lhcik their RIM ut luch
10 cash any Of them in icful,' thcy are ready
to quit the gam Nearly all pol,rr players
are superstition, 10 degrc' New YcgL
Sun.